Edit:
The lawsuit between TVPaint and Bauhaus has been resolved. TVPaint is the owner of Mirage.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TVPaint and Bauhaus entered into a license agreement that allowed Bauhaus to distribute TVPaint’s software in the United States on July 11, 2003. When Bauhaus failed to meet its agreed sales levels of TVPaint’s software, the parties settled their differences by modifying the license agreement on January 31, 2005. By October of 2005 it became apparent that Bauhaus was not going to comply with the required license payments to TVPaint. When Bauhaus defaulted under the license agreement, TVPaint offered to meet with Bauhaus in San Antonio to discuss Bauhaus’s failure to pay under the license agreement. The meeting was finally arranged for Canada in November.

In November of 2005, TVPaint traveled all the way from France to Canada to meet with Bauhaus. Instead of beginning negotiations to resolve the failure of Bauhaus to pay its agreed royalties, Mr. Paul Ford with Bauhaus started and ended the meeting by reading TVPaint a letter that must have been prepared by a lawyer threatening the filing of a $12,000,000.00 USD lawsuit against TVPaint if TVPaint terminated the license agreement because Bauhaus failed to paid the agreed royaties to TVPaint and if TVPaint began to sell and market TVPaint’s software in the USA. Bauhaus secretly filed a suit against TVPaint in December of 2005 but kept it secret until May of 2006 when the U.S. Judge was going to dismiss the suit for failure to give notice and serve TVPaint.

The license agreement provided in not uncertain terms that if Bauhaus failed to pay the agreed royalties, the right of Bauhaus to distribute TVPaint’s software could be terminated. Pursuant to the agreement, TVPaint gave Bauhaus the required notice of default which gave Bauhaus a chance to pay the past due royalties owed to TVPaint. Bauhaus continued to refuse to pay the past due royalties and was notified on January 25, 2006 that the rights of Bauhaus under the license agreement were canceled. After cancellation of all of Bauhaus’s rights under the license agreement, only TVPaint could sell authorized copies of its copyrighted software in the US, and any continued sales by Bauhaus would be in violation of the agreement and the copyright laws.

Bauhaus ignored the cancellation and continued to sell unauthorized copies of TVPaint’s software. There are lawsuits pending in the French Court in Metz and the United States District Court in San Antonio.

In the suits, TVPaint has asked for an injunction against Bauhaus from selling unauthorized copies of TVPaint’s copyrighted software. The license agreement clearly states that it can be terminated for failure to pay royalties and any claimed breaches by TVPaint cannot prevent the cancellation. Bauhaus’s untenable and outrageous $12,000,000.00 USD lawsuit lists what BHS calls "contractual failures" but the claims of Bauhaus are contradicted by the terms of the license agreement. Furthermore, even assuming that TVPaint breached the license agreement, which is vehemently denied, this would not avoid termination of Bauhaus’s rights under the license agreement for failure to pay royalties.

One preposterous claim of Bauhaus is that because it participated in adding an animator toolbar to the TVPaint software, this gives Bauhaus sole and exclusive ownership of TVPaint’s software and the right to ignore the royalty and cancellation provisions of the license agreement. Even assuming that Bauhaus is the “author” of the animator toolbar added to TVPaint’s software, which is denied, this would not give Bauhaus any ownership or distribution rights to TVPaint’s underlying software and copyright. It is fundamental copyright law that creating a derivative work does not give additional rights to the underlying work. When the license on the underlying TVPaint software and copyright is cancelled for non-payment of royalties, all rights to distributing the otherwise infringing derivative work terminate.

At this point the biggest fear of TVPaint is that faced with the inevitable loss of all of its rights in TVPaint’s software, Bauhaus Software will act to destroy all good will in TVPaint’s software.

We'd like to make it crystal clear that Bauhaus Software does not now and never did have access to or own the source code for the TVPaint software it sold under the Mirage name before its license was cancelled in January of 2006.

Consequently, Bauhaus Software, like any other user, is only able to make plugins such as the Animator's Toolbar, copied largely from (edit : not by of course) Dhomas Trenn's Toolbox, or Board-o-Matic thanks to the SDK which has its own limitations though. The SDK allows anyone to do very cool plugins to the TVPaint software. The TVPaint SDK was not intended to make a rotative canvas for example...

That means that the old versions of TVPaint software sold under the name Mirage cannot be updated or adapted by Bauhaus Software to recent and future platforms like the new Intel CPU based Macs and take advantage of their new abilities.

That's why more and more users of TVPaint software formerly sold under the Mirage name are switching to TVPaint each day... the only current legal source of genuine TVPaint software is from TVPaint so beware of buying from unauthorized sources!

TVPaint wrote:
Consequently, Bauhaus Software, like any other user, is only able to make plugins such as the Animator's Toolbar, copied largely from (edit : not by of course) Dhomas Trenn's Toolbox, or Board-o-Matic thanks to the SDK which has its own limitations though. The SDK allows anyone to do very cool plugins to the TVPaint software. The TVPaint SDK was not intended to make a rotative canvas for example...

That means that the old versions of TVPaint software sold under the name Mirage cannot be updated or adapted by Bauhaus Software to recent and future platforms like the new Intel CPU based Macs and take advantage of their new abilities.

I purchased Mirage 1.5 last year , before the legal dispute between Bauhaus and TVPaint . Over the past several months I've become more aware and more concerned about the situation. If I understand you correctly in your statement above -- "That means that the old versions of TVPaint software sold under the name Mirage cannot be updated or adapted by Bauhaus Software to recent and future platforms like the new Intel CPU based Macs" -- then there is now no reason at all for me to continue to hope that Bauhaus will be able to solve the dongle problem with Mirage 1.5 (which will not run on the Intel Macs) because the problem is unsolvable without having access to the source code ? Bauhaus has made statements on their user forums that led me to believe they were working on solving the problem with Mirage not running on the Intel Mac and it was only a matter of time before the problem was solved. But this would seem to be impossible . Is that correct ?

It is correct. Bauhaus cannot solve the dongle issue on MacIntel because we own the source code.
But this issue has been solved with the 8th version of our technology (TVP Animation & TVP Animation Pro) which perfectly works on MacIntel.

TVP Animation Pro is not already available. It is in his final step of development.

But while waiting TVP Animation Pro, you can purchase TVP Animation for only 250€ (upgrade from Mirage to TVP Animation) and then buy TVP Animation Pro for 225€ (upgrade from TVP Animation [upgrade version] to TVP Animation Pro) when available

So you will be able to use TVP Animation Functionalities while waiting TVP Animation Pro and you will not pay more than if you buy directly TVP Animation Pro.

I wonder how many people like me purchased Mirage from e-frontier totally unaware of the legal bullshit. I was happy for many years with Aura 1.

I received an email solicitation from e-frontier to buy Mirage in May 2006 for a more reasonable price than had been available from Bauhaus.

Immediately after my purchase I found out that TVPaint was back and I could have upgraded from Aura for the same amount. Now I find out about the legal disputes and the orphan status of Mirage, and that I will need to upgrade again for another $US 250.

rfoster wrote: ... I received an email solicitation from e-frontier to buy Mirage in May 2006 for a more reasonable price than had been available from Bauhaus...

well, I would be very cautious before buying anything by (no requested) email sollicitation,
specially from an online intermediary resellor,
and double-precaution when the price is obviously under the market.

I feel really sorry for all the people that Bauhaus is continuing to deceive. Not only are they buying into a dead-end product with limited support, but they are also funding their legal efforts with money that would normally go into the base price of a TVP license (because Mirage users then quality for an upgrade discount)

Not even the wars being fought in the courts are stopping Bauhaus so it seems the only sure and fast way to put an end to this is to disseminate information regarding the situation as quickly as possible. Bauhaus, however, has done its very best to censor all of this not only within its own forums, but also by contacting the admins of other forums with requests to delete any threads that the TVP community starts up.

While the TVP team has its hands full with developing software, Bauhaus is on a fulltime campaign to sell as much Mirage as possible and quell any opinions contrary to their goals. I've tried posting on other forums myself but Bauhaus has done its very best. It will take a large-scale, organized effort from the TVP community to stop this nonsense!

Lemec I'm curious, what other forums has Bahaus tried to muscle in the censorship of registered users outside of the Bauhaus site???? I think this is tremendously riddiculous on Bauhaus's side and a liability on their integrity (if they have any). People have the right to choose and voice their own opinions on what software they should purchase.

artmaestro >> There was a post that TVP had made on CGTalk announcing their new software -- TVP Animation Pro. Two users -- "calilifestyle" and "superJuanMiguel" began deriding TVP in their posts. When a few people (myself included) joined that thread and began taking apart their arguments, the whole thread itself was tossed out within a few days...

There were multiple threads on the cgsociety CGTalk forum that were all about TVP that were closed down and removed...

Per the above, even in the Mirage About. TVPaint owns and is the international copyright holder for the code/software that is TVPaint and is the sole developer of TVPaint. Bauhaus Softare aka the 'Ford Entertainment Group International' is a marketing company, not a software development company; they own the Brand name 'Mirage'. It has since becoem a self proclaimed software development company AFTER the agreement was cut off by TVPaint; when they hired software engineers etc... prior to that, only grg scripts and a plugin or two have been made/bought by Bauhaus Software.

There is a difference between owning a brand name, and owning what the brand name is put on. An example is Cicero, who sells DVD, CD media, as well as hard drives. Cicero is not a manufacturer of hardware, nor do they manufacture CD/DVD media - altough they sell such products - they do not know how to manufacture, that process is done by and owned by Sony (etc..). What Cicero does know is how to get an agreemen with Sony/Maxell/Maxtor/whomever to sell them bulk product, that they relabel and repackage to sell under their brand name. Should any company that actualy owns the rights to making the hardware / media choose to cut the distribution to Cicero; game over to Cicero.

To further explore the definition of Brand Name, a good example is Levis. If you were to walk into the Levi's head office and think you would see a factory with people making jeans; you would be sorely disappointed. Levis owns and manages the Brand name Levis. Thats it. The name, Levis, Coke, Pepsi and their Brand name are the most important asset they have. The fact that they sell a physical object is secondary, its the 'idea' of Levis that gives them market share and makes stock holders happy. Levis doesnt actually Own a factory, they have agreements with a certain factory at any given point in time. But that same manufacturing plant could be sewing Tommy Hillfinger into its jeans the next week.

Another thing to understand is how software is sold and licenced. You often hear people say that they 'own Photoshop' or whatever software. Really, they dont. Adobe owns photoshop, that person actually owns a license (has permission) to use that software, in a way that is outlined in the end user agreement. A license, like any other, is conditional and can be revoked or made invalid.

TVPaint decided (for whatever reason) that it would no longer allow Licenses of TVPaint to be sold by Bauhaus Software, as Mirage. But, unlike jeans or DVD's - where if the distribution agreement is disolved the marketer would be out of luck - software can be copied fairly easily. But, not modified - and 'development' would be limited to add on software. TVPaint can continue to develop new features, and sell licenses.

My opinion is not that of TVPaint, nor that of Bauhaus. And it is just that, a description of my perspective on the situation.

5 - SuperJuanMigel -

Ah ! What a surprise.

Here we have Evar Simon, TVPaint Beta Tester - Long ago given the boot from the Bauhaus fold - and disgruntled Canadian "Animator".

Who will be next? Mark Chong? Fabrice Debarge (as seen in the screen shot - also TVP patsy) or Raymond Gourrier? Also former Bauhaus turned TVP guy?

Most of these guys jumped ship from Bauhaus to help the TVP programmer. Most will be subject of the Bauhaus lawsuit, im told.

What none of them will tell you is what is in the actual TV Paint/Bauhaus contract. There are a propositions made by this guy that show he knows not of what he speaks.

My suggestion is to let the jury decide. Im sure they will do the right thing.

PS - Yes, I have know the Bauhaus guys for many years, and tested all of their stuff. They are a great company with all of the ideas. TVP are just code writers without a clue.

6 - Evar

If you know any different, why not actually say what you know? What you are saying has no substance, please feel free to examine any statement I've made and present examples of how the logic is untrue in your opinion.

I can even break down some of the more important points for you:

TVPaint Development is the registered international copyright holder to the TVPaint code/software (via the IDDN) since 1991.

TVPaint Deveopment is the sole developper / entity that can make modifications and additions to the source code / core of TVPaint software.

In your opinion, how is software licenced?

If company (a) uses an implementation and is allowed to incorporate a license of software (b) and subsequently (b) decides that they want to cancel said license (a) cannot claim ownership of (b) simply because its part of (a).

In Adobe Premiere, when you start up, you can read that Adobe has permission to use an implementation of MP3 from THOMPSON media. If THOMPSON decided that it no longer wished for Adobe Premiere to use MP3, then Adobe couldnt turn around and claim ownership simply because they have put allot of work into features that require the license to use MP3... THOMPSON is the holder of the rights.

Admitedly, its a poor example - as for Bauhaus, what contains the TVPaint code is an intangeable asset, simply the name 'Mirage', and has no code of its own. So without TVPaint, Mirage is essentially just a name. Just like if all of the jeans manufacturers in the world went on strike, Levis would only be a name, and its value as an intangeable asset would fall.

Feel free to point out any errors in my analysis of the situation.

When you say, tested their stuff, you are most probably referring to: Animators Toolbar (which bears remarkable similarity to dhomas trenn's toolbox) - the Boardomatic, Halo FX, or some of their custom brushes etc... to my knowledge, there has never been a build of TVPaint that has been compiled and released by Bauhaus.

Even if we assume it is true that Bauhaus has 'all of the ideas' - it doesnt matter at all. I know many people that have ideas for movies or video games etc... it doesnt mean they can do anything about it. Im sure that Bauhaus wishes that 'Mirage' worked on Intel Mac's, but it doesnt. Even if you take the assumption so far as to say that Bauhaus gave suggestions to features etc.. that were then added by TVPaint to the code/software. When working on a series, movie, or creating a better can of pepsi etc... and someone makes a suggestion for improvement - it in no way changes the ownership of the movie, show or and the copyright certainly doesnt change hands from Pepsi Co. to the guy who suggested that the mouths of cans be wider...

Besides that fact that during the 15 yrs of TVPaint development before bauhaus was a company, that 99% of suggestions for improvement were already mentioned... or implemented by someone else with add ons. (xsheet, volumetric lighting, particle system, etc... etc...) Heck, I am a beta tester, and have had suggestions for improvment implemented, doest mean I try to stick my hand in the cookie jar.

7 - SuperJuanMigel

What is obvious is you probably got your legal information from some guy in a bar, or maybe a barn – or maybe some guy in his mammas basement (or a guy in Metz).

First of all, I was beta testing things created by the Bauhaus team for the last three and a half years. And worked with them for 5 or 6 years before that. These guys are very skilled developers. I know how things went down, and who did what. I also know that you were not allowed into the Bauhaus Beta for several reasons – the obvious one is for being a whiney know it all who really doesn’t know much.

When TV Paint was working with Newtek, my old friend Gary was the Aura product manager. I know exactly what happened over there. It’s not good, and I’m not going to discuss it because it was told to me in confidence.

Here is the deal. TV Paint has a copy write in France. In FRANCE…what a joke…A copyright in France is barely worth wiping you’re a** with. These guys have nothing more.

Where do YOU get your info? From TV Paint? Have YOU read the contract between these companies? I think not. You have no idea what their agreements are or were. Have you spoken directly to any lawyers involved? If not, what ever your friends are telling you is probably bullsh*t. You should probably just let this go before you dig yourself into a deeper hole with the Bauhaus legal people.

Again, the court will decide.

8 - Evar

"What is obvious is you probably got your legal information from some guy in a bar..."

Okay, if you know better, then you explain to me how it works?

"First of all, I was beta testing things created by the Bauhaus team for the last three and a half years. And worked with them for 5 or 6 years before that. These guys are very skilled developers. I know how things went down, and who did what. I also know that you were not allowed into the Bauhaus Beta for several reasons – the obvious one is for being a whiney know it all who really doesn’t know much."

Congrats that you have been a beta tester, though I dont know that any Juan was in beta from that early on...

'Create' - well, again, since TVPaint existed long before Bauhaus, they didnt create TVPaint - it was already in existance, and sold under a different name. Outside of TVPaint itself, things like Halo FX werent made by Bauhaus. The Boardomatic and Animators Toolbar are pseudo plugins linked to grg scripts - modified requester windows and grg scripts will never be as fast as self contained compiled plugins, or actual code added to the source - I wouldnt say that is the result of 'skilled developers', but thats is my opinion.

'Not allowed' is an odd statement. It may be true now, that I am no longer in Bauhaus' favor, but there has never been a time when I've expressed interest in beta testing for Bauhaus. You make it seem like I asked and they refused, which is not the case.

I too have actually only heard the Newtek side of things, and there isnt anything I can dispute on what youve said on that subject.

"Here's the deal..." Last I heard the US was still abiding by the geneva convention, and China was trying to get in on it... Putting aside other issues, in terms of copyright - China cant get in because it refuses to abide by the same standard of copyright; and continues its rather large piracy industry. And if you are asking yourself 'what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?" - The same laws that are present in the US, France etc... protecting international copyright; and prevent China from joining in (because they are still choosing to ignore) - that a french copyright is just as valid as a Japanese, or US copyright for anyone under the geneva convention, or WIPO etc... etc... again, from my understanding.

I get my info from talking to people, and yes some of those people affiliated with TVPaint. And from my own brain, by processing information I am given in a way that makes sense to me. I have not read their agreement, nor talked to lawyers; but as I have said, my conclusions and analysis are based on what I Have seen.

You ask if I have read, spoke to lawyers, well - have you? You make it sound as though you have, and then that such information supports your point of view - but do not offer any infomation to support such a statement. I could easily say that neither the opinion of Bauhaus Nor TVPaint matter, that it will be on the decision making table of a third and much larger software company, and that it is they (who will remained unnamed) that will hold all of the marbles in the end. How could you defend against such a statement, other than to say that its 'untrue'. But how would you proove it? If you keep insisting that my opinion is wrong, or mistaken - rather than simply re-affirm your position that you are not in agreement with what Im saying (which isnt saying anything new) or that you think my examples are wrong - why not provide your own explanation?

My position is to offer an opposing point of view to the first two negative responses to TVPaints announcement, and I think I have done so.

9 - Moderator Guy

Guys enough.

Please find another forum to take this,

Thanks,

-R

10 - Califstyle

paul ford wrote:
"Everyone,

Here is the deal. Bauhaus entered into a development agreement with TVP three years ago. The road with TVP has not been an easy one, as was the case for their previous development partner (..and another before that which I won’t mention). What you see today as Mirage was conceived, paid for and completely driven by your friends here at Bauhaus. This statement - “TVP with a proven track record in development and updates” is a bit misleading - TVP’s track record is far from stellar. It is Bauhaus that has brought you the fine products, service, and community that many many artists have come to know and love.

We are moving forward with Mirage development on schedule. Things are looking very cool for the future. In fact, take a look at this:

We have a completely new and amazing in-house development team that is dedicated to creating (and busily working on) the next generation of our world class software. We have five new fulltime software developers, and we will be announcing our new VP of Engineering in a couple of weeks. Bauhaus is moving into a beautiful new facility on August 1st to accommodate all of the new team members. Stay tuned for more, but as Steve said - We reveal nothing on the product side before its time.

Bauhaus currently has in place a huge Federal lawsuit against TVP for the things they have done and not done. This will (again, as Steve said) be resolved in the courts. We know what the outcome will be, so it’s just a matter of time. (This is not the first time for TVP.)

Remember - the situation with TVP did not and will not stop the development direction of Bauhaus Software. Dan and I have developed/released/marketed many software and hardware products during our years at Soft Image/Microsoft/Newtek/Kaydara/Next Limit etc., etc., etc., and we are busy working hard for all of you today.

Thanks, and happy Mirage-ing
p.

PS - If Mirage and the Mirage Family of Artists is for you, there is no reason to worry about the next version"
__________________
________________
Paul Ford
President
Bauhaus Software

11 - Le-mec

Hi, this is the real Mark Chong. The fact that you know all our real names instead of stating our aliases (and that I NEVER knew any SuperJuanMiguel during my time on the Bauhaus forum) can only mean that you are an employee of Bauhaus, probably Paul Ford himself and trying to manipulate this forum by acting as a second person who agrees to SuperCaliLifestyle. We call this puppeteering, and it's pretty obvious, especially since you made no attempt to conceal the similarities between your "two" writing styles.

SuperJuanMigel wrote:
Ah ! What a surprise.

Here we have Evar Simon, TVPaint Beta Tester - Long ago given the boot from the Bauhaus fold - and disgruntled Canadian "Animator".

Who will be next? Mark Chong? Fabrice Debarge (as seen in the screen shot - also TVP patsy) or Raymond Gourrier? Also former Bauhaus turned TVP guy?

Most of these guys jumped ship from Bauhaus to help the TVP programmer. Most will be subject of the Bauhaus lawsuit, im told.

What none of them will tell you is what is in the actual TV Paint/Bauhaus contract. There are a propositions made by this guy that show he knows not of what he speaks.

My suggestion is to let the jury decide. Im sure they will do the right thing.

See, same thing. In fact, it's impossible for any random member of the Bauhaus forums to know this kind of thing because ANY discussion of TVPaint or the people that left is censored out of the Bauhaus forums. Face it. You blew your cover.

SuperJuanMigel wrote:
PS - Yes, I have know the Bauhaus guys for many years, and tested all of their stuff. They are a great company with all of the ideas. TVP are just code writers without a clue.

Ha ha haha h ohhh ohhh god my sides hurt! No, see the thing is, Bauhaus has only released addons written in GRG script and never took it upon themselves to learn how to use the SDK toolkit to make a DLL plugin. I've been a programmer for over 18 years now and I've looked at the Element scripts and they're very kludgy. You should see the MUI scripting used to make the "Mirage UI" for the ATB. It works by creating a new project and then using the line/filled box tools to draw the GUI, and then uses some more scripting to capture the mouse inputs.

Why do I know this stuff? Because the ATB came with my purchase of Mirage and because it's all scripted text files that any clueless programmer can peruse and understand.

Moderator Guy wrote:
Guys enough.

Please find another forum to take this,

Thanks,

-R

Yes, let us find a neutral ground to continue this discussion. It sure as hell won't be the Bauhaus forums due to the Orwellian level of censorship that goes on there.

The end....

Now, this only covers the forums on cgsociety... but there is a lot of censorship goes on in Bauhaus' own forums (even the word "TVPaint" is censored there!). I hear there was a thread on Skwigly that was closed down too.

All these back and forth guerrilla bomb tactics can't be benificial to either company, but what can you do I guess. The truth has to be put out to the public. I've done my fair share of TVpaint promotion on other forums as well - including AWN. I hope the message gets out that TVP is the way to go.

Well, unfortunately without any software to develop and occupy otherwise idle hands, Bauhaus has an all-out campaign against TVPaint so they're going to do as much gorilla-burning as they can.

When I think about it, Bauhaus has really little choice but to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. What will happen when their entire client base learns the truth? What will San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative do when they realize their funding will be squandered on legal fees?

All they can do now is feed that giant lie-monster (which will cause it to grow bigger and bigger and the passage of time just makes it more hungry) and when the food runs out, it's gonna stomp 'em to pieces with all of its weight.

If anyone is interested pop over to the bauhaus site. New information, as I can make out they are dropping the Mirage software and selling something in it's place. Owners get a free (upgrade) to version 1.5.
Perhaps someone with more knowledge can elaborate........?